Reagan Timeline

  • Water Quality Control Act

    The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters.
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    Soviet grain embargo lifted

    The United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union was enacted by Jimmy Carter in January 1980 in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. It remained in effect until Ronald Reagan ended it in 1981 upon taking the office of president.
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    Fifty-two American hostages held in Iran released

    An agreement having been made, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, minutes after the inauguration of the new U.S. president, Ronald Reagan.
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    Reagan inaugurated

    The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981
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    Spending speech (increase defense, decrease taxes)

    Reagan proposes increased defense spending, and decreased taxes and domestic spending in speech to Congress.
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    Reagan shot

    United States president Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton.
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    Sandra Day O’Connor nominated to Supreme Court

    Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan
  • Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act

    also known as TEFRA, is a United States federal law that rescinded some of the effects of the Kemp-Roth Act passed the year before.
  • Reagan delivers his first State of the Union

    Reagan delivered his first State of the Union address in a televised prime-time speech
  • Strategic Defense Initiative

    proposed U.S. strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks.
  • Suicide bombers attack U.S. Marines in Lebanon (1983)

    two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon, a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War.
  • Invasion of Grenada

    The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days
  • Farm credit crises (Feb 1985)

    Tight money policies by the Federal Reserve (intended to bring down high interest rates upwards of 21%) caused farmland value to drop 60% in some parts of the Midwest from 1981 to 1985. Record production resulted in a glut of farm commodities, forcing prices down.
  • Embargo on Nicaragua

    The United States embargo against Nicaragua was declared by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on May 1, 1985, and prohibited all trade between the U.S. and Nicaragua. In a strategy similar to the embargo against Cuba, it was intended to undermine the Sandinista government which came to power in 1979.
  • Tower Commission concludes report (1987)

    The Commission's report, published on February 27, 1987, concluded that CIA Director William Casey, who supported the Iran-Contra arrangement, should have taken over the operation and made the president aware of the risks and notified Congress as legally required.
  • Berlin Wall Speech in West Berlin (1987)

    Gorbachev, tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987.
  • Reagan prohibits abortion assistance (1988)

    President Reagan yesterday endorsed a bill that would prohibit use of federal money for Medicaid abortions for the poor, coverage of abortions in health insurance plans for government workers, research on abortion and population control programs abroad that promote abortion. The bill, introduced by Rep. Henry J.
  • Gorbachev, Reagan sign treaty (1987)

    US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The US Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan sign the INF Treaty.
  • Reagan says farewell

    farwell adress to the nation